Last week was a vacation week for us and though we had no major plans we wanted to take advantage of the wonderful summer weather to explore some local areas that we hadn’t been to in a while.

We settled on the National Capitol region of Ottawa/Gatineau straddling the border between south-eastern Ontario and south-western Quebec.

After packing an overnight bag we jumped into the car and went exploring, choosing to avoid the main roads in favor of secondary routes that took us through many small towns and villages along the way.

I always like to joke that when you are running low on subjects for impressive doors, head to local places of worship; they’ll rarely let you down. And even though we weren’t exactly looking for church doors, it didn’t take much more than half an hour before we were in the lovely town of Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines and drove past this:

Of course that view was enough to make me want to circle back and take a closer look at the rest of the building. Sure enough the entrance did not disappoint:

Upon our return home a few days later I did some investigating and found that the Ste-Anne-des-Plaines Diocese had been originally founded in 1787 and that construction on this current church had run from 1899 to 1902.

Due to its historical, cultural, and architectural significance the Église Ste-Anne-des-Plaines church was awarded Provincial Heritage Building status in 2004, allowing it to qualify for public subsidies to help with its upkeep.

For a 113 year-old structure that’s exposed to the kind of winters we have around here, this building is remarkably well maintained.

Even the side doors were worth taking a look at:

And here is a closer look at the carvings on the main door header:

I think we may just have to go back and take a look inside of this place, don’t you?

Feel free to join in on the fun by creating and sharing your own Thursday Doors post anytime between Thursday and Saturday morning for entry into that week’s selection.

Click on this blue button to post your links here:

If you share your posts on Twitter and Instagram don’t forget to use the #ThursdayDoors hashtag.

And please do take a few minutes to visit the Thursday Door posts shared by others.

Three doors in one, great photo’s Norm. You’re absolutely right in saying that there’s always an interesting door to be found on a religious building. I hadn’t thought of libraries but it’s true that here in Ireland some of the best doors lead to books. 🙂

They just don’t craft them like that anymore. Gorgeous. Excited to have found other people interested in doors! Hope to join in on #ThursdayDoors. (My blog post today is a short story with a picture of a blocked up doorway – I don’t suppose that counts 🙂 )

It looks like an amazing church … I love the 4th photo in particular. I don’t know anything about architecture, but it seems to me there is an interesting fusion of design principles going on here. Love it.